


(And My Heart's) Keeping Time

by mardia



Category: Hairspray (2007)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1624043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mardia/pseuds/mardia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corny Collins/Motormouth Maybelle. 'He spends most of his days grinning, but around her, it's always genuine, and never more so than now.' Rated PG. Title taken from a lyric from the song You Can't Stop The Beat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(And My Heart's) Keeping Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for stubbleglitter

 

 

Corny would wake up every morning exhausted if he let himself. He tries to look at things--the state of the show, Velma and the rest of the higher-ups, his lack of a girlfriend or even someone he really cares about--with a healthy sense of humor, and it helps keep the grin on his face and his feet light.

He tries to focus on the positive, tries to remember that he's doing what he loves for a living, that he's helping kids reach for bigger and better things, because if Link Larkin doesn't become a star, Corny'll _eat_ his can of Ultra Clutch.

And getting to hang around Maybelle--but then, Corny doesn't let himself think about that too much. 

Otherwise, he'll be thinking about it all the time. 

*

He grips his mug of coffee like a lifeline and steps forward. "Maybelle, how you doing?"

She looks up with a warm smile. "Well, hey there, Corny. You're welcome to join me, if you like."

"Why, thank you," Corny says, grinning at her. He quickly sits down across from her and offers up, "Thought you guys looked great out there today."

Maybelle's mouth quirks up wryly. "Velma didn't seem to think so."

Corny rolls his eyes. "Don't listen to a thing Viper Velma tells you, alright?"

Maybelle lets loose a cackle and Corny beams, happy to have made her laugh. "I try not to, but sometimes I just want to grab that woman by her peroxide-blonde hair and throw her right across the stage." Maybelle flashes him a grin as he starts to laugh. "Don't think I couldn't do it, either. Woman can't weigh much more than a twig." She gives him a speculative look now, and asks after a moment. "So, and forgive me for asking, but...you and she never..." Maybelle adds a little wriggling motion with her hand, and Corny can feel his eyes growing wide with horror. 

"No," he says emphatically. " _Definitely_ not, heck, I'd be too afraid she'd sink her teeth into my neck and drain out all my blood."

Maybelle laughs again. "Now that's what I like to see, a man with some sense," she says, approving, and Corny is grinning like a fool again, and what's more he knows it, but can't be bothered to give a damn.

They chat about music and the latest records coming out, and about her kids--Corny already knew about Seaweed, but he learns about the little one called Inez and smiles at the snapshot Maybelle shows him. She's got the same pretty smile as her mama, and he says so, and is rewarded with another sight of it.

She has to leave soon--got to get home to those kids--but she smiles at him as she does, and Corny ends up walking towards his car, whistling all the way.

*

"That new council member of yours is a hoot and a half," Maybelle observes.

Corny chuckles. "You got that right." His smile turns wistful soon enough as he says, "God, you remember being young enough to say whatever came into your head, without ever thinking whether or not people would approve?"

Maybelle scoffs. "Sure do. Remember getting my mouth slapped for it a few times too, thanks to my mama." She turns to leave and says, "You keep an eye on that one."

Corny takes a breath and calls out after her, "Maybelle?" 

She turns, and he blurts out, all in a rush, "Just so you know...I agree with Tracy. If I were President...I'd make every day Negro Day."

Maybelle's mouth twists, and she says solemnly, "Why, thank you, Mr. Collins."

*

When Corny gets to her dressing room, Maybelle's already packing.

She doesn't look at him, just says, "Hey, Corny."

"They can't do this," Corny bursts out, feeling more desperate than he has in a long, long time. "They can't--I won't let them."

"They can, they will, and it don't matter a darn what you'll let them do." Maybelle finally straightens up, looking more tired and worn down than he's ever seen her. 

After a moment, she begins to smile again, although there's a strain in it that Corny's never seen before. "Don't worry about me, Corny, I'll be fine."

"Maybelle..."

She picks up the box, walks over to him, and after a moment of looking long and hard into his face--and the Lord only knows what she's seeing--she kisses him lightly on the cheek. 

"I'll see you around, Corny. Take care of yourself, all right?"

She walks away, and Corny should go after her, should stop her, but he's frozen in place, watching her leave and still feeling her lips on his cheek.

*

A day later, he hears about the march on WYZT straight from the horse's mouth, as it were.

The first thing out of Corny's mouth is, "Let me help you. What time is it--I want to be there--"

Maybelle's already shaking her head. "Uh uh. If we come back, I want to come back to a decent host. Ain't no way we're risking you."

"Maybelle, let me try," Corny pleads, leaning over the table. "I've been spending too much time smiling and dancing and keeping my mouth shut. This is too important for me to just be standing still."

Maybelle stands firm, however. "You come in there and march with us, Velma's got the excuse she needs to get rid of you. Can't come back to the show if there's no show to come back to."

She cups his chin with a soft hand, as if to make it easier, or to distract him.

If it's the second one, then it definitely works. 

Corny looks at her for a moment, and then admits, with nerves he hasn't felt since his first broadcast, "I've been...I've been wanting to ask you out for a while."

Maybelle pulls back her hand, and after a moment, rests it on top of his on the table. "Been planning to say yes for a while."

Corny doesn't quite understand what she means for a moment, and then he does get it, and the smile on his face is wide enough to stretch from here to New York. He leans in and in a low voice, says, "You'd better not get arrested tomorrow, Ms. Motormouth Maybelle, 'cause I've got plans for you."

Her eyes are sparkling, and it doesn't matter that they're in some crappy diner at the edge of town, and that the waitress has been giving them looks ever since they walked in. 

Corny leans over and kisses her, real quick on the mouth, and pulls back, feeling dizzy, but the great kind of dizzy when you've been whirling around on the dance floor for hours with the girl you love, all without pausing to catch your breath.

Maybelle's already grinning at him. "I've been waiting for you to do that for a while too," she admits softly. "Was wondering if you'd ever get around to it."

*

" _This_ is the future," he vows to Velma, and strides away to begin it.

He takes Maybelle's hand, and pulls her forward, promising, "This is your time."

And she gets it, she's striding forward with him, she's taking her place, right there in the center of it all, and he couldn't stop smiling if he tried, and it is becoming the greatest day at work ever, watching her dance.

*

Corny makes his way through the well-wishers--he almost feels like he had a kid, the way people are crowding around him to give their congratulations, but that's fine, he's still riding the buzz from being on stage and seeing all of that, all the magic happen.

Maybelle's standing next to Inez, surrounded by people, and both of them are grinning to beat the band. Corny starts to grin as he sees them, and then he's making his way through the crowd, and he's next to Maybelle and asking Inez, "Mind if I steal your mom away for a bit?"

Inez grins at him, and says, "Sure, go ahead." Maybelle is watching him with a knowing look on her face, but she lets him pull her aside into a deserted corner of the stage, far away from all the people and the noise.

"So," Corny says, feeling like he's sixteen all over again, "I believe you promised me a date, Maybelle."

"Did I?"

"Oh, yes," he says firmly, unable to fight back the grin that's spreading across his face again. He spends most of his days grinning, but around her, it's always genuine, and never more so than now. "Or haven't you heard...it's a brand-new day out there, and I intend to spend it on a date, with you."

"Well," Maybelle murmurs, right before their lips touch, "--that's just fine with me."

 


End file.
